Phillies Nation Year in Review

Here is a list of the Phillies players we’ve reviewed so far this offseason. Make sure you go back and do a review of your own if you haven’t aleardy. As always, leave your grades in the comment section.

We’ll continue to touch on the rest of the roster as the winter progresses, so keep an eye out for the outfield and pitching staff up next:

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5 Comments

eSey31594

November 7, 2010 at 2:25 pm

Chooch probably had one of the better offensive seasons on the team. Utley could of had more RBIS if he weren’t out with his thumb. The only thing is they are a great hitting team, they just can’t hit together for days or even weeks especially when it means the most.

I’m glad you touched on Ryan Howard again, I’d like to add a few comments.

I’ve watched Howard since he came up. This year more than any other he looked lost at the plate to me. He lets good pitches go by, swings hard and sometimes looks silly whiffing at pitches down and outside (I won’t even bring up the last pitch of the NLCS).

Yes, his strike out ratio was down compared to previous years but his OPS was down, power numbers were not on the scale (for howard anyway) it was just a year where he was more confused than ever.

Getting a hit 27 times out of a 100 is something most players in the ML should be able to do. Ryan is so powerful, hitting 31 hrs is actually considered a down year for the big fella so in my opinion, he was lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been and will continue to be a huge Howard supporter – I don’t think the Phils would have been anywhere in the mix for a playoff spot in the last 4 years without him. But this year, he was lost.

eSey, everyone except for JW had an off year offensively (Choochie did good too). You take JW out of the equation in 2011 and the Phils perform the same offensively as they did in 2010, I have my doubts they will make the playoffs.

Not only does Rube have some work to do this offseason but, the offense needs to find that spark again.

It irritates me that Howard’s numbers are down. 31 and 108 is very good, especially considering that he missed time with an injury. Also, perhaps he never got into a rhythym after he did get to play again. He was hitting around .300 right before he got hurt and when he came back he couldn’t hit a beachball, striking out almost every time- remember that Houston series? Even so, Howard has hit 58 homers in a season and 140 RBI’s. Why can’t he duplicate? Perhaps pitchers have gone to school on him and have found something to get him. After all, he was in the WS 2 straight years and this makes other teams angry.

Howard’s power numbers dropping are as much a product of the down years produced by Utley, Ibanez, Rollins, etc, as they are of him. Why throw him the fastballs he hits into the seats when you don’t need to? While Werth is needed and was good this year, his season was a bit uneven as well, and probably played a bit into Howard’s numbers as well.